National Institute for Literacy

The Department of Education Office of Career Technical and Adult Education operates the National Institute for Literacy program (CFDA 84.257) to provide national leadership on literacy, coordinate literacy services and policy, and serve as a national resource for adult education and literacy programs through dissemination; the most recent grant award was made on October 1, 2006.

This program is not currently active. The last grant award was issued nearly twenty years ago, and no grant opportunities are present in the source. The funding history spans from January 2001 through October 2006, with 28 total Project Grants awarded and a spike in award volume in 2002 (15 awards) followed by sharp decline. The program has disbursed $12.8 million in federal dollars across all awards, with an additional $5.3 million in non-federal matching or cost-share contributions from recipients, bringing total obligated dollars to $18.1 million.

Recent awards funded literacy infrastructure and resource development: the Literacy Information and Communication (LINCS) Regional Resource Centers Program, which received multiple awards in 2006 ranging from $2.3 million to $4.5 million per award, and the LINCS Resource Collections Grant, with individual awards of approximately $1.4 million to $1.7 million. The program also funded unsolicited proposals supporting general literacy activities and programs, regional technology centers for literacy content development, and training and dissemination on learning disabilities. Representative 2006 awards include a $4.5 million regional resource centers grant and a $1.4 million resource collections grant, both with completion dates in 2011 or 2012.

The Department of Education Office of Career Technical and Adult Education was the sole funding agency across all 28 awards. All awards took the form of Project Grants. Award magnitudes varied widely, from $35 thousand to $4.5 million, reflecting project scope variation across resource collections, regional centers, technology infrastructure, and unsolicited research or development proposals.

No current solicitation or recent grant opportunity appears in the source material. This program should be considered inactive pending confirmation of resumed activity.